Origins of the ‘U-shaped-line’ Bill Hayton Author – South China Sea: dangerous ground (Yale, 2014) bill@billhayton.com

Acknowledgements § François-Xavier Bonnet, Research Associate of IRASEC

(Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia)

§ William Callahan, University of Durham, UK

§ Ulises Granados, ITAM, Mexico

§ Zou Keyuan, University of Central Lancashire, UK

China’s southernmost point…

Continental shelf ? § James Shoal

‘Since ancient times’ § “The Nansha Islands have become an inalienable

part of Chinese territory since ancient times.” Historical Evidence To Support China's Sovereignty over Nansha Islands MoFA, Beijing 17 November 2000

§ How ancient?

No islands included in 1897…

‘Century of national humiliation’

Timeline § 1840 First ‘opium war’ § 1894-5 Japan seizes Korea & Taiwan § 1901 International suppression of ‘Boxer rebellion’ § 1907-9 Occupation of Pratas by Nishizawa Yoshiji § 1911/12 Overthrow of Qing Empire § 1912 Republican government prints first map § 1914 ‘New Geographical Atlas’ published § 1915 Japan’s “Twenty-one Demands” – May 7-9 § 1916 ‘National humiliation day’ marked for first time

The trigger… § October 1907 (?) Nishizawa Yoshiji lands on Pratas § March 1909 Chinese ship challenges Nishizawa

‘Self-Government Society’ boycott of Japanese goods

§ May 1909 Governor of Guangdong sends boat to Paracels*

§ October 1909 Viceroy of Canton & Japanese Consul agree deal to buy out Nishizawa

§ 1909 New map of Guangdong published showing Paracels for the first time

Paracels ‘mapped’ in 1909…

1912 First map of Republic of China § Published in founding

Almanac of RoC

§ No borders marked

§  “The sovereign territory of the Republic of China continues to be the same as the domain of the former Empire”

§  “Originally our vassal”

§  From William Callahan China: the pessoptimist nation OUP 2010

Lines in the sea § 1914 A private cartographer, Hu Jinjie

publishes ‘New Geographical Atlas of the Republic of China’. This is the first map to show a line across the SCS. (Zou Keyuan)

§ Hu entitled the map the ‘Chinese territorial map before the

Qianglong-Jiaqing period’ [AD 1736-1820].

§ Only islands inside the line were Pratas and the Paracels. It went no further south than 15° N.

1916 Map of National Humiliation

Shanghai Central Cartographic Society

1927 Map of National Humiliation

§  More ‘lost

territory than 1916!

§  Current territory

§  “Old National Boundary”

§  Sulu islands

§  From William Callahan China: the pessoptimist nation OUP 2010

Timeline § 1930 (Jan) Inspection Regulations of Land and Water Maps

(Shuilu ditu shencha tiaoli) announced § 1930 (April) French ‘occupy’ several islands in Spratlys § 1933 (April) France annexes the islands § 1933 (June) RoC establishes ‘Land and Water Maps Inspection

Committee’ § 1933 (July) Annexation publicised in Chinese media

Chinese diplomats tasked to find out about islands § 1933 (Aug) Maps of islands reach Nanking from Manila § 1933 (Sep) RoC Military Council meeting agrees not to press

claim to Spratlys § 1935 (Jan) Maps Inspection Committee publishes ‘Chinese’

names for 132 islands and islets in SCS § 1935 (April) Committee publishes ‘The Map of Chinese Islands in

the South China Sea’ including all the features to 4° N – the location of James Shoal.

‘Chinese’ names §  Mis-

translation of ‘shoal’ as 滩 - James Shoal becomes ‘Zengmu Tan’ – a land feature!

§  Names evolve in 1947 and again in 1983

Chinese islands map 1935

Les Notes de l’Irasec, n°14, novembre 2012 — Irasec’s Discussion Papers, #14, November 2012

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In the new map of China published in 1935 (Map 5), Scarborough Shoal, called Si ge ba luo jiao (phonetic for Scarborough island), was part of a group called Nansha [southern sand] comprising also Macclesfield Bank, Druro Bank, and other submerged features. The Spratly Islands claimed by France were called Tuansha [chaotic sand]. It should be noted that some Chinese researchers discovered in 1977 some sketches, made by a fisherman from Hainan in 1935, showing the fishing grounds of the South China Sea. This sketch was made into a map. As can be seen on this map (Annex 1, Map 8), Scarborough Shoal does not appear; only the Paracels, Macclesfield Bank, and the Spratly Islands are marked. In 1947 the name Nansha was given to the Spratly Islands, and Macclesfield Bank, etc., were named Zhongsha [middle sands].

Thus, before the Second World War, in the context of Japanese expansion, the Philippines

and China made parallel claims to Scarborough Shoal, each without knowing that the other was doing the same. Both claims were unofficial in the sense that there was no notice to the whole world, to avoid attracting the attention of the Japanese. Nevertheless, in the case of the Philippines, the State Department had more specific information about Scarborough Shoal than the Chinese had. For the Chinese government, Scarborough Shoal was simply one small feature among all the South China Sea islands and reefs. They had no information about this shoal but were expecting that in the future their researchers would find some evidence of Chinese ownership. In conclusion, the Chinese claim was as recent or as old as the one of the Philippines.

Map 5. Map of all our South Sea islands, published by the Committee on National Territory, April 1935 (source: Committee on Toponymy of Guangdong Province, op. cit., 1987, p. 39)

§ No line yet §  ‘Nansha’ is the Macclesfield

Bank & Scarborough Shoal § Spratlys are ‘Tuansha’

Bai Meichu – father of the line § One of the founders of the China

Geographical Society §  “Loving the nation is the top priority in

learning geography, while building the nation is what learning geography is for”

§ 1930 draws his own version of the ‘Chinese National Humiliation Map’

§ 1936 publishes his ‘New China Construction Atlas’ including a U-shaped line snaking around the South China Sea as far south as James Shoal.

1930 Map by Bai Meichu

Bai Meichu’s line?

Bai’s line adopted by others Les Notes de l’Irasec, n°14, novembre 2012 — Irasec’s Discussion Papers, #14, November 2012

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Map 9. Xin Zhongguo fen sheng tu [New map of the provinces of China], by Tu Sicong and Wang Zhen Bian Zuan, [Chongqing]: Sheng huo shu dian, 1939, p. 45

The thick black line shows the tributary states of China in the past. The thin line in the South

China Sea shows the actual limits of the territory of China, as perceived by the two authors.

§ New map of the provinces of China by Tu Sicong and Wang Zhen Bian Zuan, Chongqing published in 1939

§ China’s national territory

§ Bai’s line

1946 RoC Navy map §  “Drawn by Naval Command

Headquarters Third Office Marine Department”

§ Probably intended to guide the 1946 ‘reclaiming’ expedition to the Spratlys and Paracels.

§ Shows an 8-dash-line

§ First state-produced map to show the U-shaped-line?

1946 RoC Taiping Landing Party

1948 RoC 11-dash-line map §  ‘Location Map of the South

China Sea Islands’ § Drawn in December 1947 § Formally published by RoC

Ministry of Internal Affairs in February 1948 as an adjunct to its new ‘Administrative Division Map of the Republic of China’

§ No official explanation of the meaning of the line

§ Cartographer Wang Xiguang reported to have said that the dashes simply indicated the median line between China’s territory – ie each claimed island – and that of its neighbours

Conclusions § U-shaped-line emerged haphazardly from 1914 onwards § Chinese historians misunderstood nature of ‘tribute system’ § Confusion over the nature of borders in the transition from

empire to republic § Map-making conventions emerged in private sector and

moved into state sector § More research is needed…

Further research § Cartographers’ understandings of the ‘tribute system’

§ How and when ideas about territory and cartography moved from private individuals to state policy

§ Original documents of RoC Land and Water Maps Inspection Committee (from 1929-Jul-11th to 1940-Mar-21st) can be viewed online (http://dft.drnh.gov.tw/textdb/drnhBrowse/)